Thursday, September 29, 2011

Heist Society by Ally Carter

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own—scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring Kat back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has a good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.

For Kat, there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family's history--and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way.

And the winner for Most Underrated Awesome Book goes to...

Ok, someone please tell me why I never read this sooner!! I’ll admit, those Ocean 10/11/12/1368146284628462 movies? Not a fan. I figure this book constantly being dubbed as the teen version of it is why it had a hard time making its way up my TBR pile.

But thankfully, we have summers!!

This past summer was not one of my best, and I felt pretty overwhelmed with all its releases, so instead of bothering to try and catch up with the latest, I made it a goal to read a few titles that have been out for a while and that I’ve neglected to read thanks to those pretty, shiny, selfish new releases.

Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series is unfortunately still on my TBR list, so since I wasn't familiar with her work, I wasn't sure what to expect from this one. Like I said, I'm not exactly a heist lovin' girl, but if a book manages to sorta kinda make me want to rent this, WELL THEN. I think that says something.

Basically, this book has it all: awesome, smart characters, great action, mystery, and enough depth to have me completely invested in the story. I don't think I even put it down once--I literally read it in one sitting. (Oh, and there's even a pretty sweet boy- can't forget that! It is me here.)

So if you're looking for a read that's fun but not fluffy, action-packed with an actual plot, and smart without it making you feel infinitely stupid, I highly recommend this one! I'm currently trying to delay reading Uncommon Criminals as long as I can as I am 110% positive the wait for book 3 will hurt me. YEP, IT'S THAT GOOD. Maybe I'll go get hooked on Gallagher Girls now...